Fool of Me
by twstofate
Summary: Stephanie and Kurt have had a long and tangled past...more than anyone knows. How can anything turn out right when Kurt knows he's going to betray Stephanie?


*** Hello! I was inspired by Survivor Series and the Kurt/Steph fics I've read...so here's the product...my very first Kurt/Stephanie shipper fic. There are alternating POVs, but I'm pretty sure I made it clear who it was. Sorry if there is any confusion. The song I use is "Fool of Me" by M'schell Nogdeciello (I know I spelled that wrong...sorry). I don't own ANYTHING except my brain. Enjoy! ***  
  
// I remember when you filled my heart with joy  
Was I blind to the truth? //  
  
There was a time when we were close. Closer than anyone knew. I was the one she would come to when her husband would intentionally hurt her feelings. I was the one she would come to whenever Chris Jericho made fun of her. I was the one she would turn to when Vince took her for granted because she was only his daughter, not his son.  
  
I knew she had a crush on me at the time. Edge and Christian told me so numerous times. At first I thought she was a sweet girl. She was basically still naïve. It's kind of funny actually. I pretended to more innocent than I was and she pretended to be more experienced than she was.  
  
She told me her dreams, about how she felt for her husband, about her childhood. After awhile I knew her as well as I knew myself. She made my day brighter whenever I saw her. Her smile could make me feel like I had done the best thing in the world.  
  
Somewhere in there I made the monumental mistake of falling for her. The plain fact is that she loved her husband. She wanted to keep the power she and Hunter had. And in the end, after I confessed to her that I was falling in love with her, she wasn't prepared to take the next step.  
  
// Just there to fill the space  
Because now you have no interest //  
  
After she kicked me at No Mercy I became a little disillusioned with Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley. I guess I could understand that Hunter was making her choose between us in a very public way. But Stephanie and I were friends. I didn't understand how she could betray me in such a way and not even come see me right after to say that she was sorry, but she had to do it.  
  
Maybe I was just an instrument to make Hunter jealous, because anyone could see their marriage was in trouble at the time. It wasn't just me that was causing troubles. Hunter was obsessed with getting the WWF championship from The Rock, even claiming that it was the most important thing in his life. Jericho kissed Stephanie and Hunter got jealous. Trish started hitting on Hunter and Stephanie got jealous. What hurt Stephanie most was when Hunter renewed his friendship with Chyna. Stephanie knew what Chyna had been to him in the past and Chyna made Stephanie feel really insecure.  
  
But none of that was enough to make her doubt her marriage and its stability apparently. I don't think it even crossed her mind to ever leave him. She just needed to use other people, me namely, to prove to herself and the world that she and Hunter belonged together.  
  
// In anything that I have to say //  
  
She was my manager for awhile, but things weren't really the same. This time I knew that Stephanie was just using me to prove a point. To be honest, I didn't need her to be my manager, but I saw that she wanted to feel useful so I offered.   
  
Part of me was still in love with her. I wanted to be near to her. I wanted to know that our friendship had actually been strong at one point. I wanted to know that she thought about me. There's a lot of people who try to make sure that Stephanie is paying attention to them.   
  
We almost became friends again during that time, but once again Hunter was so jealous that he made Stephanie decide between us. She didn't realize that someone who really loved her wouldn't make her write off her friends.   
  
// I've allowed you to make me feel  
I feel so dumb //  
  
We were just starting to become friends again during the Two-Man Power Trip. Hunter and Vince were so busy plotting how to be dominant and to keep Shane and the WCW at bay. Stephanie felt left out and neglected and would just start dropping in on me whenever she wanted to.  
  
She left when Hunter was injured and the next time I saw her was when she and Shane announced to the world that they were declaring war on Vince. It shocked me as much as it shocked anyone. But something was different about Stephanie. Something besides her...enhancements. She seemed more self-confident, more calculating, and more in tune with herself than she had ever been when Hunter was around.  
  
I tried to ask her why she betrayed her dad. She basically told me to keep my nose out of it. I could never understand. I could never be the kind of friend she needed.  
  
// What kind of fool am I?  
You so easily set me aside //  
  
"Kurt?" Stephanie asked. She had assumed her innocent tone of voice that told me she was about to ask for something huge.  
  
"Yeah Stephanie," I said, pretending like I didn't know what was coming.  
  
"You know, at Survivor Series, the Alliance is going to win," Stephanie said. "But I would hate to see you out of a job."  
  
"I could always go work in the steel factories in Pitt," I said.  
  
"Kurt," Stephanie said. "I wish you would think about coming to work for the Alliance. I would make it worth your while."  
  
She had never so blatantly offered herself to me before. I was shocked. I knew that she was going to ask me to come to the Alliance, Shane and Vince had planned everything perfectly. But I didn't want her to offer to be with me to get me to the Alliance.  
  
"That's okay Stephanie," I said. "You don't need to sleep with me. I'll come to the Alliance."  
  
// You made a fool of me  
Tell me why //  
  
I didn't understand why Kurt turned me down when I told him that I would be interested in a relationship with him if he came to the Alliance. Maybe he didn't know that my marriage was basically over. It had been since Hunter had gotten hurt. He blamed me for the injury...not Jericho like I would have everyone believe. He thought that if he had never gotten involved with me he could have avoided everything.  
  
I probably should have left Hunter before our first anniversary. Now it's been nearly two years of living with a man who doesn't know how to love anyone but himself. I probably should have admitted that I was head over heels in love with Kurt Angle after SummerSlam, after our one night together. That one night that I would never admit actually happened.  
  
The truth is, Kurt is the only man who has ever treated me like a treasure. The only man who ever listened to me. The only man who ever seemed to care. And I threw that away with both hands. I guess I couldn't blame him for not wanting anything to do with me.  
  
// You say that you don't care  
But we made love //  
  
"Steph?" Kurt asked softly. It was five nights before Survivor Series. I was in my dressing room, crying to my dismay.  
  
"What?" I asked irritably. I didn't mean to be a bitch, I guess it just comes to me naturally anymore.  
  
"I was just wondering what was wrong," Kurt said.  
  
"Oh everything," I said miserably. "My marriage is over, my business is about to die, and I've never felt so alone in my life. Even you don't want me."  
  
"I don't want you?" Kurt asked.  
  
"You said I didn't need to sleep with you," I told him. "You seemed disgusted at the thought of being with me."  
  
"God Steph," he said, pulling me into a hug. "I just didn't want you to think you needed to sleep with me to get me to your side. I've always wanted you."  
  
"Yeah?" I asked, looking into his deep blue eyes. He nodded solemnly. "Show me."  
  
// Tell me why  
You made a fool of me  
You made a fool of me //  
  
"We shouldn't have done that," Kurt said, pulling his clothes back on.  
  
"Why not?" I asked, running my hand along his bare back. "We're both adults here."  
  
"You're married Stephanie!" Kurt exclaimed. "The timing is all wrong here."  
  
"That was special Kurt!" I exclaimed, starting to feel hurt. "Or did you sleep with me out of pity? Do you feel sorry for the Princess who can't get anyone to show her any affection."  
  
"Steph-" Kurt said softly.  
  
"Just get dressed and go!" I yelled. "I don't want to see you anymore. I don't need your pity."  
  
"Stephanie don't do this," Kurt pleaded.  
  
"It's done," I said.  
  
// I want to kiss you  
Does she want you with the pain that I do? //  
  
I pushed him away. I did it because I couldn't admit that I needed him. I needed someone to want me and to need me. And I've been in love with Kurt for over a year. He's like no one else and he's always there when I need him.  
  
And he was still there to assure me that everything would be alright during Survivor Series. He stood there and told me that I was special and that I would never have to be a normal person. And when he said that, I could believe it.  
  
"That's what you get Stephanie," I told myself as I watched that last match over and over again.  
  
// Smell you in my dreams //  
  
"I told you everything would be alright," Kurt said to me, taking me in his arms. "The Alliance won."  
  
"Thank you so much Kurt," I said. "You're the only one who ever loved me."  
  
"I didn't think you knew," he said, shock on his face.  
  
"I had hoped," I said. "Now I know."  
  
A knock at the door woke me up and ended my dream. I was brought back to the world in which Kurt Angle had betrayed me and let the Alliance become a memory.  
  
// But now, when we're face to face  
You won't look me in the eye //  
  
"What do you want?" I asked. I couldn't believe he had the audacity to come to my room in the middle of the night.  
  
"I figured you might need the company," he said, holding up a bottle of bourbon.  
  
"Under normal circumstances I would say no," I said, opening my door wider so he could come in. I looked out in the hall to make sure no one had seen him, not that it mattered anymore. I saw Kurt in the corner by the elevators. I glared at him and turned back into my room.  
  
"Well Princess," he said. "It looks like we are jobless. What happens now?"  
  
"Ever thought about starting your own company Chris?" I asked.  
  
"There's a thought," Jericho said, passing me a shot of the bourbon.  
  
// No time, no friendship, no love //  
  
"I can't believe you turned to Jericho," Kurt said to me the next morning as I walked out of my hotel room.  
  
"He offered some sympathy," I shrugged. "We are kind of in the same boat now."  
  
"So you slept with him?" Kurt asked, hurt evident on his face.  
  
"You know...the nearest warm body and all," I said.  
  
"I can't believe that of you," Kurt said.  
  
"You just put me out of business," I said. "Don't tell me what you can't believe."  
  
// You say don't touch you  
I can touch you no more //  
  
I know I hurt him once. But I did not take away everything that he had. My one chance to prove to my father that I was worthy of his attention, my one chance to have something on my own, my one chance to be free was all taken from me by the one man that I loved.  
  
"You ready?" Rob asked me as we stood on the curb of the hotel. He had just gotten us a taxi.  
  
"Yeah," I said. I guess that part of my life was over.  
  
"It's all going to be okay Steph," Rob said.  
  
"I wish I could believe you," I said. "But the last time told me everything was going to be okay, I ended up where I am now."  
  
// Can't touch you anymore  
Anymore //  
  
I watched her leave the hotel. RVD made sure she got home okay. I knew I had hurt her. I knew that she had trusted me to save her from the great unknown. But I had already pledged my loyalty to Vince. Damn me for being a fool. Because now I can't have the one thing I didn't realize I needed.  
  
// You made a fool of me  
Tell me why //  
  
The saddest thing is that I would take Kurt back. If he turned up on my doorstep I would say that I understood. I knew what it was like to feel like you needed to end up on top. I knew that sometimes you had to hurt the people you loved to survive. I knew he felt like he didn't have a choice. Even if he did make me look like the stupidest person there was.  
  
// You say that you don't care  
But we made love  
Tell me why //  
  
I wrung my hands together as I waited on her doorstep. When she answered the door she looked like a little girl.  
  
"Here to finish me off?" she asked.  
  
"I'm here to say I'm sorry," I said. "I never should have made you feel like you could trust me. I didn't realize that I was still in love with you. I should have known though."  
  
"You love me?" she asked.  
  
"I have forever," I said.  
  
She closed her eyes and then smiled weakly at me. "That's all I needed to hear. Thank you."  
  
"Yeah, well," I said, turning to walk away. I couldn't believe that I had ever thought she could have taken me back.  
  
// You made a fool of me  
You made a fool of me //  
  
I watched him walk to his car. He looked so dejected. And he loved me. I ran out of my house to the driveway and stopped him.  
  
"You really love me?" I asked again.  
  
"Yeah Steph," he said.  
  
"And you won't make me look like a fool again?" I asked.  
  
"Not on purpose," he said.  
  
"Then I love you too," I said. "Why don't you come back inside so we can figure everything out?"  
  
// I feel like such a fool  
You made a fool of me  
Tell me why // 


End file.
